You know that thing you’ve been noticing in yourself? It happens when you check your email and get a barrage from all the companies and organizations, most that have no real bearing on your life, on how they are handling COVID-19. You turn to the news, social media, or whatever format you choose to digest information these days. You find yourself searching for answers...
What is happening? When will this be over? Am I safe? What’s the cause? What’s the next thing that’s going to be cancelled? What can I do?
And the daily sinking does not go away, and that’s likely for this reason: emotions.
Some of us deny having them ourselves, some of us spend hours criticizing others for “not having them,” and still others of us say “we can’t let them rule us”. However we chose to view emotions before now, we may have thought we were doing a good job managing and getting by or over or through daily life.
But if this pandemic is showing us anything, at least in America, it is that we are not the most emotionally savvy country.
It is probably just as important during this time to take note of how to stay well emotionally as much as physically. Yes, hand-washing, social isolation and now mask wearing are important, but the conversation that is crucial to staying mentally, emotionally and spiritually well. These are issues that many are vulnerable to beyond the immunocompromised, so it is time we do some gut checking on our emotional competency. Truth be told, these are probably things we all need to be doing anyway - there is nothing like a little “encouragement” in the form of a pandemic!
Today, after talking about being sad yesterday, I think it’s time we tackle another feeling we need to acknowledge….
Be Angry
Yes. That is right. It is okay to be angry. Anger is passion. Anger is showing you that you care about your family, your job that you may have lost, your friends, your employees, especially the ones you had to let go, your co-workers or your causes or interests (we miss you MLB, NBA, and all the others). We tend to now spend hours anger tweeting this or that or aligning ourselves on one political side or the other, all because we are angry and want change.
Anger is an activating emotion if we are able to feel it, express it and channel it. Many are fueling that anger in healthy outlets, like redirecting their whole business model to do things like make masks instead of clothing or collaborating with competitors to find best practices. Hopefully, someone’s anger is being redirected to finding a vaccine for COVID-19. It is okay to admit you are angry and that you want things to change.
Again, I encourage you to start by simply admitting to yourself and others that you are angry- angry because you want things to be different, and because the things that you care about in this life may be threatened by an enemy you can not really see or conquer. When we channel this anger in a productive direction, it allows us to stay away from the depression (I feel impotent to make change happen), pride (I am important and things should go my way), and responsibility for (this situation is all up to me) that harms our mental, emotional, and spiritual well being.
So today, will you share your anger with others?